Lot Details
Lot 397
George III Mahogany Serving Table in the manner of Henry Hill of Marlborough
Circa 1770
The crossbanded parquetry serpentine top above a flame-veneered conforming frieze, raised on molded chamfered square legs headed by scrolled brackets. Height 35 1/2 inches (90.1 cm), width 67 inches (170 cm), depth 28 1/2 inches (72.3 cm).
Henry Hill worked as a cabinetmaker, decorator, auctioneer, furnisher, estate agent and representative of the Sun Insurance Company in Marlborough, Wiltshire, from the early 1740s until his death in 1778, when the business was taken over by his assistant Samuel Hilliker. Despite his provincial origins, Hill worked for some of the most sophisticated patrons of his day. A major London client was Sir John, later Lord, Deleval, whose commission is recorded in a number of letters between himself and Hilliker of Seaton Delaval (see L. Wood, 'Furniture for Lord Delaval', Journal of the Furniture History Society, 1990, vol. XXVI, pp. 198-222). Most of his known clients appear to have resided in his immediate area, and included the 9th Duke of Somerset at Maiden Bradley, whose purchases in 1770-1771 amounted to £227 10s 3d. Other clients included Paul Methuen of Corsham Court, whose accounts show an expenditure of £1300 between 1760 and 1778, Arabella Calley of Burderop Park, near Swindon and Henry Hoare at Stourhead.
The present table exhibits a the same distinctive large-scale lozenge parquetry, which 'seems to have been a speciality of Hill's, with or without the addition of marquetry'; see Lucy Wood, The Lady Lever Art Gallery Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, pp. 64-73.
A serving table attributed to Mayhew and Ince with a similar parquetry top was sold, Christie's, London, November 19, 2015, lot 531, probably made for Henry, 2nd Earl Bathurst, possibly at Cirencester Park, Gloucestershire, where Hill was also employed. Lady Bathurst wrote to the agent at Cirencester Park in 1778 about charges: ' . . . . I wish you coud [sic] recollect wt. Hill of Marlborough charged a Day or how he was payed'; Wood, ibid., p. 67, note 2.
C Estate of Marianne Schaller
Additional Notes & Condition Report
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